Christmas in Austria

Just a few notes and pics to commemorate our Christmas in Austria.

Christmas Eve Day was spend skating, shopping, and fending off suggestions to open "just 1" present NOW!

Our Decorated Austrian Christmas Tree

The Christmas tradition in Austria is for the Christ Kind to deliver presents on Christmas Eve afternoon.  Grace's German teacher said that the Dad takes the kids to the movies and the Mom stays home.  The room with the Christmas tree is closed off and when the Christ Kind leaves, she (it's a female angel) rings a bell, which lets the family know the tree is decorated and the presents are there.  This (the bell ringing) usually happens just as the Dad and kids are returning (how's that for timing!?).

Well, we had a twist ... our kids and Sue decorated the tree one afternoon (not being able to wait for me!).  And, as it turns out, we were heading to church for a 4p family service (with an English translation :-)  I "forgot" to turn off the iron and had to head back to the apartment before catching up with the others.  So, when we returned, there were two gifts left for the children by Christ Kind :-)  We also let them open another present each and had a simple dinner.  Sue had ordered a copy of "The Night Before Christmas" so that I could continue that tradition (reading them that story before bed).

Stockings?  Who needs stockings!?

During the night, Santa Claus made his usual deliveries.  We had no stockings, so the kids put out their ski helmets by the cookies, milk and carrot.  Santa got the hint :-)  The kids loved all of their presents.

Our friends' son and Grace playing a game on the stairs

We had friends over in the afternoon.  The mom is from the US, the Dad is from Italy, and the son is tri-lingual!  The kids played well together, we all played some games, ate some good Austrian food (as best as we can!) and drank some good Italian wine.

Frohe Weihnachten und ein glückliches Neues Jahr!

Russ